CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — County officials are attempting to determine whether they can legally audit county trustee Brenda Radford's office as a follow-up to the audit conducted by the state.

Since the state attorney general's office won't render an opinion on the request from Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett and the County Commission's Audit Committee for a locally administered audit, County Attorney Tim Harvey is responsible for interpreting whether it is possible.

Harvey said the trustee, as a constitutional officer elected by the county as a whole, is granted certain powers that limit the scope of what other county officials might be able to potentially pursue against that officeholder.

However, an audit by local firm Thurman Campbell Group may not be out of the question. Harvey and Durrett noted in Monday's meeting that other county department heads and elected officials have openly welcomed local auditing, but they said Radford has resisted it.

"An audit is a review of existing records and protocol, it is not an attempt to interfere or tell someone how to do their job," Harvey said.

Radford did not attend Monday's Audit Committee meeting but said she has already been audited by the state comptroller, and that state audit should suffice. She issued this written statement late Monday to The Leaf-Chronicle:

"The Montgomery County Trustee’s Office and other constitutional offices in Montgomery County receive a yearly comprehensive, financial audit by the state of Tennessee, Comptroller of the Treasury. This is a fair and balanced financial audit/review without any local, political overtones," Radford wrote. "In my opinion, it would be redundant and a waste of time and taxpayer money to spend one more penny of the taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars for a second audit/review, etc.," she concluded.

The conversation about an audit of Radford's office follows state auditing that found problems in the trustee's office's accounting and reporting that resulted in one person resigning, and Radford pledging that findings and the problems would not be repeated.

In April, when the Audit Committee led by Harper asked Radford if she would be willing to provide quarterly reports showing that bank accounts had been reconciled with the general ledger — one of the key problems found in the state audit — she said that while she wouldn't mind, she questioned whether a county body could require that of her under state law because she is a constitutionally elected official.

The state audit, which looked at the report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, found the trustee's office had a number of "accounting deficiencies" that were "the result of a lack of management oversight."

It found that the trustee's office had not reconciled its two largest bank accounts with the general ledger accounts since June 30, 2014, even though auditors requested those reconciliations be done several times. In addition seven other bank accounts handled by the trustee's office were not reconciled until auditors made an official request, said the findings.

Radford followed up later, saying the trustee's office had reconciled all county bank accounts. She said former trustee staff accountant Larry Guest was responsible for most of the problems, and he apologized and resigned.

The county mayor's staff had previously requested that state Sen. Mark Green ask for an opinion from the Tennessee Office of the Attorney General as to whether county officials may authorize and obtain an internal audit.

A letter dated March 22 stated that the office is not able to provide legal advice to or on behalf of local government entities, nor give an opinion on the question of Montgomery County officials obtaining internal audits. It said those issues should be addressed by the county attorney.

Reach Business Editor Jimmy Settle at 931-245-0247 and on Twitter @settle_leaf.